Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

La historia de Lisey by Stephen King

3 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I loved this book when I read it on release. It had all my favorite Stephen King tropes: Castle Rock, blue chambray work shirts, a story of a novelist, a parallel universe, being able to flip between worlds, dozens of references to other books and songs, and a homicidal stalker. But! It was centered around a woman who was bad ass and she was even in her 50s. It was a story I needed at the time. 

But listening to it 17 years later as a fully fledged bad ass woman myself, it lost some of it's glow. At the time I didnt have a lot of examples of powerful women in lit or media, but since then I've found so many more and better. Some of this did not hold up the test of time. 

Mental health and childhood abuse are huge parts of this story and back in 2006 I loved how it was approached, but in the now of 2023... it's so bad. I caught myself being physically repulsed at some of the description, angry and sad at others. 

Overall, the story still gets me. One woman overcoming her grief and being stalked and attacked by a man out to hurt her just for the sake of hurting her, by finding the strength within herself. She gathered her sister, hollered her back, from a catatonic state, and realized she'd always been the strong one. Always been able to do things she never gave herself credit for. I still love that bit. 

It just... chose the wrong words from the language pool where we all go down to drink. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

mxpringle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book absolutely broke me. It is the best representation of trauma and mental illness that I've ever read, and because of this, it completely and utterly broke me. What makes this Stephen King book scary isn't the supernatural elements in it (which definitely exist within it), but the sheer concept of being constantly tormented by the monsters inside the human mind for the rest of one's life.  It was such a difficult read, but so incredible that I will probably think about it for years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

felofhe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail